Riding high off of 30-straight wins and up 16-4 early, No. 1 overall seed Florida’s confidence was through the roof of the cavernous AT&T Stadium.

But if any team knows about Connecticut’s resilience, it’s these Gators, who fell at the buzzer to the Huskies back on Dec. 2 before embarking on the impressive streak. The run came to an end on Saturday in North Texas with a UConn 63-53 win and as a result, the Huskies are heading back to the title game, just a year after being barred from the tournament entirely.

DeAndre Daniels led the way with 20 points and 10 rebounds and Shabazz Napier added 12 points and six assists for the Huskies. Patric Young scored 19 against UConn’s undersized front line.

Florida went 36-1 against other opponents this season, but 0-2 against Kevin Ollie’s group.

Ollie, a former journeyman NBA guard, preaches defence and his team responded again.

Led by Ryan Boatright and by Napier, who was relentless with his quick hands, disrupting Florida’s guards all evening in a four steal performance, the Huskies forced Florida into 11 turnovers and conceded just three assists — and just one after the opening two minutes of the game. That’s the fewest assists a team has managed in 30 years at a Final Four game.

SEC player of the year Scottie Wilbekin shot a dismal 2-for-9.

UConn often won ugly in its title run back in 2011 in Houston and now has a shot at its third championship win in a third different Texas city largely on the strength of its ability to create offence from its defence.

“Shots may not fall for us offensively, but if we hang our hats on the defensive end, we have something to fall back on,” added Napier.

The shots weren’t dropping early, but, oddly, a huge block on a Napier shot by Young seemed to wake up the Huskies, who responded by going on a huge 21-6 run to close the half, before adding six more in a row out of the break.

Both experienced sides faced their biggest deficits of the tournament at separate points, but UConn was the one responding with what was by far the best response.

“We have been in a lot of dog fights,” Napier said. We continue to have faith we are going to win. That is what we do.”

There just doesn’t seem to be any rattling of this group. Ollie has them believing. Napier and others could have left knowing that the team wouldn’t be allowed to play in last year’s tournament, but they stuck around, looking for a second championship.

With the Big East demolished, UConn went to the fledgling American Athletic Conference, turning in a solid, if unappreciated campaign. The team wasn’t supposed to be big enough — Napier led them in rebounding at 6-foot-1, 180 pounds — or have enough offensive capability to do much.

But here they are, heading for a winner take all finale.

Daniels has been a big part of this surge, averaging 17.6 points and a shade under 10 rebounds a game. The team is now 7-0 when he scores 18 points or more this season.

Big Young stepped up with some rare offence for the Gators, taking advantage of the tiny Huskies, but he got little help. His teammates went 1-for-10 from three-point range.

“Unfortunately for us, I didn’t think it was one of our better games and I think Connecticut certainly had a lot to do with that,” said Florida’s Billy Donovan, who failed to become the first coach to make the title game in his first four Final Four appearances.

“Our pick-and-roll coverage broke down ... Then, I think once they got their defence set, I thought we had a hard time handling their pressure up top, keeping the ball moving.”

At the other end, looking to stop Connecticut’s easy penetration, Florida went to a zone, but the Huskies weren’t troubled by it in the slightest after the initial unsteadiness. After turning it over six times early, UConn didn’t make another miscue in the half.

Many of the 77,000 on hand at Jerry Jones’ gigantic facility, fondly known by locals as ‘JerryWorld,’ had a sense that all hope for the Gators was lost when Napier stole the ball from Wilbekin and fed it ahead to Ryan Boatright for a layup that stretched the lead to 47-40.

Those kinds of moments kept happening, usually because of Napier. After Young scored inside of the final two minutes, Florida fell asleep and Napier sailed the ball up the court past all of the Gators for an easy dunk by Giffey at the other end.

No team has a better Final Four record than UConn’s 7-1 mark and the school is not satisfied with that bit of history.

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Connecticut Huskies stun No. 1 Florida Gators

Riding high off of 30-straight wins and up 16-4 early, No. 1 overall seed Florida’s confidence was through the roof of the cavernous AT&T Stadium.

But if any team knows about Connecticut’s resilience, it’s these Gators, who fell at the buzzer to the Huskies back on Dec. 2 before embarking on the impressive streak. The run came to an end on Saturday in North Texas with a UConn 63-53 win and as a result, the Huskies are heading back to the title game, just a year after being barred from the tournament entirely.

DeAndre Daniels led the way with 20 points and 10 rebounds and Shabazz Napier added 12 points and six assists for the Huskies. Patric Young scored 19 against UConn’s undersized front line.

Florida went 36-1 against other opponents this season, but 0-2 against Kevin Ollie’s group.

Ollie, a former journeyman NBA guard, preaches defence and his team responded again.